


Ocean's Melody

by ShiekahKami



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Merfolk AU, Merman Lance, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Veteran Shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 12:04:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8978968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShiekahKami/pseuds/ShiekahKami
Summary: Shiro was staring, mouth slightly agape as his mind tried to make sense of what he saw.The young man right in front of him showed him a tailfin – his tailfin. The water drops made it glisten in the soft light of the promenade’s lamp; it’s colour, as far as he could tell, of dark blue shade.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Voltron Secret Santa gift for [peachy-matsu](http://peachy-matsu.tumblr.com)!
> 
>  
> 
> Big thank you to [the-no-life-sassy-senpai](http://the-no-life-sassy-senpai.tumblr.com) for beta reading and helping me out!

Shiro woke with a gasp from his nightmare. Sweat was running down his temples, he could feel his dampened shirt sticking on his skin.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves, still on edge, remembering the images from his dream. It had been more than over half a year since he had returned from war, more than seven months since he hadn’t been able to put enough distance between himself and the detonating bomb. 

Everyone told him to just give it time, time heals all wounds, but it just got worse night after night. 

Shiro could feel the pulsing ache in his right hand. It wasn’t there, it wasn’t there, but it still hurt so _badly_ – he wanted to rip it off again and again.

He got up, knowing that trying to go back to sleep would be fruitless and started changing his clothes, dressing for the cold outside.

Staying inside would just worsen his condition.

*

The darkness of the night surrounded the town, only a few streetlamps illuminated the abandoned streets. No living soul was outside, being far too late and too cold for anyone to bother setting a foot outside. 

Shiro’s cheeks began to sting slightly as the wind picked up speed, welcoming the tingling sensation as it managed to clear his head a little bit.

It happened often that Shiro went outside during the dead of night, finding that the clear air and the openness he found outside calmed him down more than anything in his tiny apartment could.

And so, in the last few months he found himself being drawn to the pier, where he could just listen to the waves and let the ocean calm his mind.

Shiro went up to his favourite spot – right at the end of the pier – and leaned against the railing. There wasn’t much too see, being far too dark, just the blackness of the wide ocean at night. But he didn’t come here to marvel the beauty of it, but to let himself be engrossed by the mesmerizing sounds.

He could almost feel how his thoughts began to clear…the sound of the waves and the blowing wind being the only things occupying his mind.

There were sounds of seagulls, alarmed because of the presence of a human. But otherwise there was nothing else. No other people, no haunting images, no worried glances from friends, watching him as if he would break down any second.

He closed his eyes and knew that he would stand here, just like this, for the next hour. This was one of the few times he was permitted some peace of mind, and he wasn’t willing to let it go just yet. Even if the cold began to sink into his bones and the stinging on his cheeks became a worse kind of ache.

He just concentrated on the waves, the wind, the animals, and - Shiro startled.

He opened his eyes, looking around himself trying to find the source of the sound he just perceived. It was a soft, melodious sound. It was almost like…a song. It sounded like the ocean was singing to him.

Shiro closed eyes shut and rubbed them with his fingertips. It seemed like sleep deprivation finally caught up to him.

*

The next few days fared just the same. Shiro would get up and do what he was expected to do – meet his therapist, answer the calls from his friends (who would not allow him to be completely alone for more than just two days) – going back to bed, having nightmares, waking up and going to the pier. The only difference was that the new sounds, the song, seemed to grow louder night after night.

Shiro still wasn’t sure if it all wasn’t some kind of byproduct of his tired brain, but he began to enjoy it, not fearing anymore whether or not it meant that he was slowly driving to insanity.

Most of the time the songs sounded like they were being sung in a language that was a complete mystery for him. It sounded otherworldly, but with a beauty and smoothness that sometimes left him wanting to jump down the pier to finally find the source of this voice he was hearing.

Curiosity got the best of Shiro and soon he started to visit the pier during daylight. He didn’t know what he was hoping to find, but it helped ease the pull he felt itching in the back of his mind.

Nothing remarkable happened. The wide sea, some pedestrians and squawking seagulls were all he encountered.

*

Two weeks had passed since the first time he had heard the strange noises. He still couldn’t sleep all through the night, but his nightmares became more bearable.

The drive to get out of bed and take a walk by the seaside however, was still there. There was just something he couldn’t get out of his mind. Something that always urged him to go back.

That was how he found himself walking alongside the seashore again.

The night was starry and chilly, the lit promenade allowed Shiro to see the shapes of his surroundings. The ocean to his left; grasses, typical for this region and soil’s salinity, on his right. He was thinking about how his right arm didn’t torment him with the phantom pains anymore and whether or not being close to the ocean might be one of the reasons he finally started to heal.

Shiro was looking down at his artificial arm, deeply in thought.  
“Hey, gorgeous.”

He jerked to a halt and checked the pathways, searching for other late night pedestrians, but found himself being completely alone.

He heard a snickering and squinted his eyes, his heart rate speeding up. 

“A little bit more to your left!”

He did as he was told, even though he didn’t understand. All he could see was the promenade’s fence, the dark water and – Shiro’s heart skipped a beat.

There was a man in the water. It must have been _freezing_.

“Oh God, can you reach the ladder? Hold on, wait, I will come and –“, Shiro didn’t finish his own sentence, to occupied to shrug off his jacket and boots. He didn’t know how this lad got in there, but it was night, and cold, and he knew that a normal body could only take a small amount of hypothermia, before serious medical conditions started to appear. He was sure he could see a blue tinge on the other’s skin –

“Woah, easy there, champ! Stay up there, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to jump in here! Phew, I didn’t know you would be an actual hero type”, the other man chuckled.

Shiro stilled, not comprehending the situation. He was so _confused_.

Both his hands – flesh and prosthetic – gripped the railing and he was staring down at the other man.

“Why- How-“, he stopped, drew a breath and tried again.

“Care to explain why you’re down there, at night, _in November_?”

The brunet (black haired? Shiro couldn’t tell) man shrugged and moved closer to the railing. 

“It’s not like I can leave, right?”

Shiro opened his mouth to ask what he meant, but the other man was quicker. 

“I mean, it’s not like I can walk with this, dontcha think?”

Shiro heard a splash as something was being lifted from the water. The other leaned back and looked like he was about to do a backstroke, but he soon realized that the other person was balancing himself while lifting a – fin?

Shiro was staring, mouth slightly agape as his mind tried to make sense of what he saw.

The young man right in front of him showed him a tailfin – _his_ tailfin. The water drops made it glisten in the soft light of the promenade’s lamp; it’s colour, as far as he could tell, of a dark blue shade. 

“I think, I am going insane. It’s the sleep loss. I – I need to go.”

Shiro turned and walked back home. Neither caring about his jacket, nor about his boots. He needed to get back home, he needed to _sleep_ , he was beginning to hallucinate.

“He- Hey! Where are you going?! Come back tomorrow, will ya? My name is Lance by the way!” 

The last few words were yelled and Shiro couldn’t bring himself to react.

*

It had all been some kind of weird dream. It had to be.

As might have been expected, sleep was restless. He was still sure that, whatever it was that he witnessed last night, had been all just a product of his imagination. His tired brain, seeing thing that weren’t there.

Because it was rationally not possible for…for merfolk to exist, right? Shiro grimaced, even thinking about this was just absurd.

He should stop setting his foot outside at night. He should just stay in bed, even after a nightmare woke him. He should try to get better, reach out to his friends, whom he was avoiding most of the time. He should just try harder.

He clenched his human fist and got up.

*

Night fell and curiosity got the best of Shiro.

His morning’s determination faded as the day grew longer. While he was still sure that everything he saw yesterday couldn’t be real, he also knew that he couldn’t have made it completely up. He knew that his mental health has suffered after coming back from his duty abroad, but there was no chance that his fantasy has taken its toll on him in such a realistic way.

Shiro waited until after midnight, before he stepped out of his apartment. He didn’t know if he would meet the other man today, but sleep was lost on him, and trying sounded better than doing nothing at all.

He decided against taking a walk on the promenade and went to his favourite spot on the pier instead. He leaned his forearms against the railing and looked down, watching the waves crush against the pier’s stakes.

“Lucky me, I thought I had scared you away.”

Shiro had prepared himself that he might meet the other – Lance, he reminded himself – again, but he still startled after hearing his voice.

Lance swam with a few smooth motions into the light cone of the pier’s lamp. His hair was brown and his skin had a darker tone than Shiro’s own. He could also see a tinge of blue on the other’s skin. It wasn’t the kind of blue people got after exposure, he realized now. It was more like a dark turquoise, making Lance’s skin shimmer in the light. Shiro thought that it looked quite lovely.

He didn’t say anything for a few moments, squinting down at the other. 

“I am still not sure, this isn’t some kind of joke”, he said.

Lance snickered.  
“You landfolk can fake a lot of things, but I doubt you could fake my amazing physique!”, he flashed him a dashing smile, “they call me The Sailfish, wanna see why?”

Shiro couldn’t help himself, but smile. 

“Why do they call you The Sailfish?” 

“’Cause I’m the fastest!”

Shiro laughed at the other’s delighted facial expression as he submerged. Whatever Lance was, Shiro knew that he had a lot of confidence in himself. 

Several minutes passed and Shiro began to worry about the other, until he finally reappeared. 

“See?” Water dropped down Lance’s hair, he had a grin on his face and Shiro thought to himself that this was exactly what radiating happiness must look like.

“I am not sure if you noticed, but I can’t see past the water’s surface”, Shiro said with a laugh in his voice. Lance’s expression fell.

“Oh…right. I forget this sometimes”, he said and scratched the back of his neck while he sheepishly looked up at Shiro.

“Could you –“, Shiro began, but he was interrupted by some noise behind him. He turned around and saw some people making their way to the promenade. They seemed to be drunk, judging from the way they walked and talked to each other.

“I need to go”, Lance said as Shiro turned back to him. He looked startled and his previous positive energy turned into a nervous one.

“Do you know about the hidden bay nearby? 

Shiro shook his head.

“If you go down this way”, Lance pointed to his right side, “keep going after the promenade ended. Be careful, the rocks look dangerous! Come meet me tomorrow, will you? Just come whenever you like, I will know it when you’re there.”

And with this, Lance dove back into the water, disappearing from Shiro’s sight.

*

The next day Shiro did as he was told. And Lance was right. Getting to the bay Lance told him about was a tough task.

It first started off as a rocky beach, with its rocks growing bigger and bigger with every step he took. He soon passed a “Keep Out” sign, warning him, that trespassing this area could end deadly. It made him nervous, but he still kept going. It was annoying how much of his spirit of adventure had died together with his arm.

The pebble beach slowly transitioned into a stony cliff, forcing him to start climbing. The height of the cliff had never looked remarkable, but moving up the rocky surface made Shiro realize how much he had underestimated it.

It took a while to get to the top, with rocks of various sizes blocking his path, but he managed to reach it and let the sight before him sink in. The sky was cloudy, but it did nothing to diminish the beauty of the ocean’s soft blue tones. The bay was small, just a tiny cove inside the cliff, its ground covered with shingle. There were a few bigger rocks, likely broken off parts from the cliff itself.

Shiro was glad to discover a safe looking path leading to the bay. It was a nice thought that he would likely not lose his other arm, trying to get down.

It took him some minutes, but he finally reached the ground. The shingles scrunched beneath his shoes and the bay was filled with the soft sounds of waves crushing against solid mass. But otherwise, there were no other sounds. This place gave away a lonely atmosphere and for a brief moment, Shiro felt unsure why he even came in the first place.

“Hey gorgeous, I’m looking for treasure. Can I look around your chest?”, a smooth voice called over to him and a startled laugh escaped Shiro.

“Lance – that was horrible.” 

The brunett pouted.

“Give me some time and you will definitely fall for it!” 

Shiro laughed again.

“I’d like to see you try.”

He looked around, searching for a comfortable place to settle down and sat down on a rock, large enough not to be uncomfortable.

He watched Lance for a while. It was the first time he saw him during daylight. The light turquoise shimmer was even more intense now that he could see it in a brighter light. But not his whole body was covered in it, like he originally thought. Most of it stopped at his waist, only small patches of colour traveling up his upper body.

His lower body, however, looked completely different. None of the light brown skin was visible, it changed into mixture of dark turquoise and cyan. He always believed merfolk to have scaly skin, but Lance’s lower half was covered with a skin that looked more like a dolphin’s.

Shiro’s gaze travelled up again and he searched for something he couldn’t find. 

“Lance, can I ask you some questions?”

“Sure, fire away!”

Lance swam up to the shore and placed his upper arms on the stony surface. The water seemed to be deeper than Shiro expected.

“What are you?” 

Lance laughed. 

“I’m a merdude!”

Shiro raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment it further.

“Oh come on!”, Lance huffed, “I’m what you guys call merfolk. The super-awesome-in-water-living-gorgeous-guys!”

“How do you breathe underwater, then? I don’t see any-“ 

“Gills?”

Shiro nodded.

“We have lungs. We need to take a breath every once in a while, just like dolphins or whales.” Shiro hummed and regarded the other man the whole time.

“And how often do you need to come up to breathe?” 

“I’m not sure.”, Lance said, “about once or twice a day?”

Shiro’s eyebrows rose up. That was a lot of time to hold one’s breath. Especially since Lance’s lung couldn’t have been much bigger than his own.

Shiro started frowning. It all still didn’t make much sense to him.

“I still don’t understand. How is this even possible? And how do you guys communicate? Are there a lot of you out there?”

Lance leaned his chin on his hand and grinned up to Shiro. 

“You have a lot of questions, huh?”

“You don’t even know.”

Lance laughed. “Okay, let me think… Yes, there are more of us, no I can’t tell you where. We don’t need to actually speak to communicate. It’s hard to explain- it’s a bit like what you guys call  
‘telepathy’, but not quite. We don’t communicate with actual words, usually. It’s more like- like what you call intuition. That feeling you have then. You just know, right? And our blood is more efficient with binding the oxygen, that’s how.”

Shiro could see that Lance knew exactly how all this information was almost too much for him. Smug bastard. But he decided to leave all the rumination for another time.

“Tell me, Lance… why did you start talking to me? I am sure that this is not normal. I haven’t even known you guys existed until a few days ago.”

Lance’s expression became thoughtful. For a few moments he didn’t say anything and stared at the cliff’s edge above Shiro’s head.

“It is actually forbidden for us to talk to landfolk. Bad things happened in the past. We… You know, you guys aren’t really known for being the nicest species on Earth.”

“Then why? I could tell someone else.”

Lance’s expression grew softer and he smiled.

“You have a beautiful heart. And I can feel your honesty. I felt drawn to your soul.” 

Lance said it in such a matter-of-fact way, that it left Shiro speechless.

The moment broke as Lance gasped and said with a horrified tone: “I don’t even know your name!”

*

The following weeks were kept the same while November went and December came. Shiro went to the bay, sat down and waited for Lance. They talked and after a while Shiro would go back to his apartment. He always had to make sure that nobody followed him, he wanted to protect this secret – and Lance – as much as he could.

He couldn’t explain why, but talking to Lance helped him with his panic attacks and nightmares. They didn’t talk about his time at the army or why he had a prosthetic.

But Lance had made sure to let him know how rad the thought it was.

_“I can’t believe that landfolk did this! It is so smooth and almost feels warm!”_

_Lance pulled and pushed at his artificial arm, dampening it with his own wet hands._

_“You can even move every knuckle! This is so **rad**!”_

It was a mystery to Shiro why his own reaction, when he first met Lance, lacked all the fear. Sure, he had been shocked the first time he had seen the merman, but he had not once been afraid.

Instead, there were warm feelings spreading in his chest. Meeting Lance and just talking to him had become his highlight, whenever he managed to get to the bay. There were days in which he couldn’t make it, but they were few and far between.

Sometimes, talking to Lance felt like he was finally reaching the end of this dark, dark road he had kept walking on for such a long time.

Today, Shiro had brought his phone with him, granting Lance’s request of seeing pictures of his loved ones. He usually left it at home, neglecting most text messages or calls he got.

He loved listening to Lance’s family stories and seeing him smile always made him mirror the motion. He even started to find his weird one-liners charming.

This day, Shiro waited longer than usual. He wasn’t worried, not really, but he could feel himself growing impatient with every passing minute. Shiro once asked him how he managed to always know when Shiro arrived. Apparently, merfolk were able to sense other living beings. He explained that other living beings could sense them as well, when they allowed them to. Hence the “songs” Shiro had been hearing at the beginning. Shiro didn’t ask any more questions after this one, knowing that he would only be confused, trying to understand.

After a little while Lance’s head broke through the surface. His cheeks were slightly coloured and he panted, he must have rushed to their meeting place.

“I was sure you drowned”, Shiro deadpanned as Lance approached the shore and lifted himself up to sit on it. Shiro always loved when he did this because it allowed him to see Lance’s beautiful tail, which was usually hidden from his sight.

“Shirooo~, don’t be so mean! You know that you would miss this cute ass!” 

Shiro laughed. “You are probably right.”

The older one could see how Lance clenched something in his fist. He nudged him on the shoulder and pointed down at it.

“What do you have there?”

“Uh-uh, you can’t see it just now! First you have to show me the pictures you’ve promised!” 

Shiro sighed and did as he was told.

They went through his photos together. Lance was leaning now against Shiro’s left side. Shiro had moved down from his stone to sit next to the merman on the ground. Lance’s skin was slightly colder than his own, but he didn’t mind.

They sat there for what felt like hours. Shiro explaining and Lance commenting.

_“Wow, she looks like a princes!”_

_“You have to cut his hair, Shiro. He can’t walk around like this. Break into his house at night and cut it off!”_

_“Woah, a gremlin!”_

_“Can you ask him to make some for me, too?”_

Shiro put his cell phone away after they reached the last picture and he was staring at Lance’s hand.

“Can I see the mysterious thing inside your fist now, Prince Lance?” 

Lance snickered, but shook his head.

“There is one more thing I want before I show you.”

Shiro smiled. He loved it whenever he was able to make the other laugh. 

“And what might that be, Your Royal Highness?”

“Just keep your eyes closed for a while, okay?”

Shiro did as he was told with just a slight tinge of confusion.

Nothing happened for a moment, until he felt a swift peck on his lips. He reopened his eyes, his heart suddenly beating a hundred paces faster.

Lance was looking at him sheepishly, not able to hide the flush that climbed up his face.

He didn’t say anything, and this was probably the first time Shiro witnessed such a _quiet_ Lance. Shiro was staring at Lance in wonder, marvelling at his beauty, drinking the sight in.

Shiro saw how Lance grew uncomfortable under his gaze. He knew that he should say something, but he couldn’t.

Instead, he chose to act.

He placed his hands on Lance’s cheeks and gently guided him to come closer. The kiss was first nothing more than brush of lips against each other. Testing how Lance would react, how they would feel against one another. The tenseness in Lance’s shoulders subsided and he allowed himself to lean in even more, gently pressing their lips together. Shiro let his prosthetic hand glide down to the other’s neck while he stroked the soft, yet firm skin on Lance’s cheek.

They broke apart when Shiro needed to take a breath, but stayed close to each other. The blush on Lance’s face was lovely. The merman chuckled and let his forehead rest on Shiro’s shoulder.

“You make my heart do silly things, big boy.”

Shiro smiled and stroked Lance’s (now dry) hair with his right hand. Lance grabbed his hand, not looking up, and dropped something small into it.

“It took me some time to find this. And I had to dive to places where I almost couldn’t handle the pressure anymore, so you better appreciate it!”

Shiro lifted the little object to inspect it. It was a small piece of a coral, Shiro had never seen one like it before. It was bright orange in colour and had many ramifications.

“You told me that this celebration where you guys give presents to each other is around the corner. I’ve wanted to get you something, since you’re going to be away for those days.”

Lance lifted his head and watched Shiro’s expressions closely.

“We usually give it away as a charm combined with an algae necklace, but something tells me that running around with algae around your neck isn’t the best idea in your world”, he said and stuck out his tongue. It was amazing how fast Lance could recover from his shyness.

Shiro laughed and said: “You’re right, it’s not.”

He brushed back some of Lance’s bangs and placed a kiss on his forehead. 

“Thank you, I love it.”

Shiro knew, he would do anything to see this happiness on the other’s face all the time.

*

Their daily routine changed only a little bit, since they had shared their first kiss. Shiro wore his coral charm around his neck all the time now, a lithe silver chain threaded through it.

They also spent their days with a lot more closeness now, but other than that, they behaved exactly like they did before.

The only thing Shiro found to be very trying was that Lance’s love for cheesy pickup lines seemed to have extended tenfold.

_“You look great and all, but do you know what would look really good on you? Me!”_

_“If I had to rate you from one to ten, I would rate you as a nine because I am the one you need!”_

And the very worst Shiro has ever heard was:

_“I think you’re purr-fect!”_

He didn’t even start to ask why merfolk knew what cats were.

 

They still talked a lot. About how different their lives were, if merfolk had an education system and why landfolk didn’t seem to understand how important nature was.

Shiro also started opening up and told Lance about his scars and lost arm. Lance didn’t react with pity, or the kind of sympathy Shiro always encountered. 

Instead he was taking the prosthetic into his own hands, stroking the smooth surface and telling Shiro that he loved it, because it was now a part of him.

Christmas day drew near and a sensation of dread settled in their stomachs. Shiro wouldn’t be able to come back for a few days, he had promised his friends to spend the holidays with them.

It was not the fact that they were apart for a few days, that made them dread those days. It was because they were shown quite plainly that their relationship had no prospects. How could they be together, while one lived above the water’s surface and one underneath it?

“I wish you could just…walk out of here and live with me”, Shiro whispered into Lance’s hair during some moments of vulnerability.

*

Shiro often spent his night lying in bed, wondering why his nightmares were gone. He had been suffering for so many months, dealing with panic attacks, anxiety and flashbacks and now they were just _gone_.

It didn’t make any sense, especially since he knew that curing an illness like PTSD could take years. He didn’t believe in miracles (which was absurd since he dated a merman) and, above all, he didn’t believe that love could cure anything. You couldn’t get rid of one emotion simply by having another. That was not how things worked.

During the Christmas days, all of his close friends stayed in his apartment. There was barely enough room for all of them, but he couldn’t complain. He was happy to have them all together, he just wished that Lance could have the chance to be a part of this.

But he didn’t, and so Shiro tried to focus on his friends and not think about this cheeky brunet man.

*

It was the evening of Christmas Day, when it happened. Keith and Pidge were having a Streetfighter match on the Playstation Pidge has brought with her. She had said that there just couldn’t be any festivities without proper gaming.

Shiro listened to Coran and Hunk discussing the best way to prepare a Christmas goose as dread began to settle inside his stomach.

His chest was tightening and he started panting. It felt like there suddenly wasn’t enough oxygen in this room anymore. He needed to leave, there were just _too many people –_

Hunk was the first one to notice that something was off. He always had been. Sensing that Shiro was close to a panic attack, he cut himself off from the others and went to Shiro, wordlessly leading him to the bedroom. It wasn’t the first time Hunk had sat with him through those moments. They both knew how his last attack – right in front of everyone – had ended.

Hunk opened the window, they had figured out that letting a breeze of fresh air into the room always seemed to help Shiro ease his nerves.

“Now, breathe the way we’ve practiced together, okay buddy?”

Shiro nodded and counted his breath. Breathing in for seven seconds, pausing, breathing out for ten seconds, pausing. He repeated it several minutes, until he began to feel calm again. His heart started to beat normally again and the pressure on his chest loosened a little bit.

He looked at his friend and felt an almost overwhelming gratitude for him. “Thank you, Hunk.”

“Don’t worry, Shiro. That’s what friends are for, right?” 

Shiro smiled and nodded.

“You can go back to the others. I think I will stay a little bit longer.” 

Hunk nodded and patted Shio’s shoulder.

“Sure thing, buddy.”

*

A soft knock made Shiro look up. He went to the door and opened it. In front of him stood Allura, looking at him with apologetic eyes.

“Sorry Shiro, but there is someone waiting for you at the door.”

Shiro’s confusion was written all over his face. His close friends were all inside his apartment and none of his family lived anymore.

He exited the bedroom to follow Allura to his apartment’s front door. He expected to see one of his neighbours, maybe asking to help him out with some ingredients since all shops were closed on Christmas Day.

What he didn’t expect was to see the familiar cocky grin and brunet hair in front of him. 

Saying that he was absolutely shell-shocked was an understatement. His eyes were wide, his mouth agape, he couldn’t even begin to comprehend the situation. 

“Lance? What- How-“

Lance chuckled.

“Wow, you sound just like the first time we met!” 

“But how?”

Shiro was looking at Lance, really looking this time. He looked like a normal human man. His light brown skin lacked all the blue tones he previously had. It looked softer, much more like human skin. He was clothed in simple jeans and a blue hoodie, his shoes were black.

Shiro had so many questions. How was this possible? Could he walk just fine? Where did he get his clothes from? How did he know that this was his apartment?

“The ocean hides a lot of mysteries you don’t understand, Shiro. Its magic is one of those mysteries.”

Lance’s grin fell.

“I had to decide. It was either easing your pain in here”, he tapped Shiro’s chest, “or this. Seems like I can be very selfish sometimes, hm?”

Shiro was unable to reply. Everything clicked into place. Why his symptoms had weakened the last two months, why it happened around the time he had met Lance and why it had all come back today. He still didn’t understand many things. He didn’t know how this ‘magic’ Lance was sometimes talking about worked , but he knew that Lance had put quite some effort into helping him.

He drew Lance into a hug, hiding his face in his full (and this time not damp, his mind noted) hair. 

Lance returned the hug, resting his forehead on Shiro’s shoulder.

“I know that you are strong enough to fight against your fears, big boy. But I’m sorry to take the peace from you.”

“Shush, Lance. I am glad that you are here.”

*

Sometimes, he still woke up with fear gripping his heart. But knowing that the warm body next to him was real and not just a dream, made all his fighting worthwhile.

 

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 might follow soon ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


End file.
